Antisemitism: Understanding the Root — and the Solution

Why does hatred of Jews persist, and what can we actually do to stop it?

By Rabbi Zevi Wineberg

As a recent headline asked, “Is antisemitism becoming the new normal?”

After the Holocaust, many believed humanity had finally learned the terrible consequences of hatred.

Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, once reflected:

«“I was convinced that hatred among nations and among people perished in Auschwitz. It didn’t. The victims died but the haters are still here.”»

How can this be?

How can a hatred that has persisted for thousands of years survive even after humanity witnessed where it leads?

And more importantly, what can we do about it?

The Lubavitcher Rebbe taught the importance of addressing problems at their root. Merely treating symptoms will never eliminate the underlying cause.

To understand antisemitism, we must therefore ask three questions:

1. Who are the antisemites?
2. Why do they hate?
3. What is the solution?

The third question is the most important, for our goal is not merely to understand hatred, but to overcome it.

1. Who Are the Antisemites?

Throughout history, antisemitism has appeared in almost every conceivable form.

Religious and secular. Right-wing and left-wing. Nationalist and revolutionary. Among educated intellectuals and uneducated mobs.

The ideological explanations change, but a recurring psychological pattern often remains:

“We are the victims. They are the aggressors. Therefore, we are justified in attacking them.”

The medieval antisemite accused Jews of poisoning wells.

The Nazi accused Jews of corrupting civilization.

The modern antisemite may portray Jews as secretly controlling governments, financial institutions, or the media.

And today, antisemitism can sometimes disguise itself as anti-Zionism, particularly when hostility toward Israeli policies becomes hatred of Jews collectively, denial of Jewish rights, or justification for violence against Jewish civilians.

Of course, criticism of an Israeli government or its policies is not inherently antisemitic. The distinction lies in whether criticism becomes collective demonization, discrimination, or hatred.

Yet the essential question remains:

Why do some people become so consumed by hatred that they can justify cruelty, persecution, and even murder?

There are many historical, political, religious, and social causes of antisemitism. But I believe Kabbalah and Chassidus illuminate a particularly important psychological force behind it.

That force is jealousy.

2. The Psychology of Hatred: When Jealousy Becomes Destructive

To understand jealousy, we must understand the human psyche.

Kabbalah and Chassidus describe different forces within us, which we can broadly organize into three:

The Mind — our capacity to reason, understand, and interpret reality.

The Heart — our emotions, desires, fears, and longing for connection.

The Ego — our sense of self-importance, pride, status, and need to avoid humiliation.

These three forces can work together harmoniously.

But when the ego feels threatened, something dangerous can happen.

Imagine that someone believes they deserve to be the most respected, admired, successful, or loved.

Then someone else appears to possess those very qualities.

Instead of appreciating the other person, they experience that person’s success as a personal humiliation.

Their reasoning becomes:

If that person is special, perhaps I am not.

If that person succeeds, perhaps I have failed.

If that person is admired, perhaps I am being diminished.

The result can be a toxic mixture of shame, resentment, anger, and jealousy.

And when these emotions become extreme, the individual may no longer wish merely to succeed.

They may wish to destroy the person whose existence makes them feel inferior.

Snow White: A Simple Illustration of a Dangerous Emotion

Consider the familiar fairy tale of Snow White.

The wicked queen is beautiful.

Her problem is not that she lacks beauty.

Her problem is that she insists on being the most beautiful.

The moment she discovers that Snow White surpasses her, Snow White becomes an intolerable threat.

And what does the queen seek?

Not self-improvement.

Not an appreciation of her own beauty.

But Snow White’s destruction.

Why?

Because the queen has made another person’s existence a threat to her own self-worth.

This is the terrible tyranny of jealousy.

When our sense of worth depends on being superior to another, the other’s success becomes our suffering.

King Solomon and the Two Mothers

The famous biblical account of King Solomon and the two mothers illustrates another dimension.

Two women claimed the same surviving infant.

King Solomon proposed dividing the child in two.

The true mother immediately begged that the child be spared, even if it meant giving him to the other woman.

The other woman accepted the proposed division.

Solomon understood that genuine love seeks the good of the beloved, even at personal cost.

Jealousy, by contrast, can become so consuming that a person would rather see another lose than accept their own disappointment.

This reveals a profound difference:

Love asks: “How can I help you live?”

Destructive jealousy asks: “Why should you have what I do not?”

How the Mind Becomes the Servant of Hatred

The Rebbe Rashab, in the Chassidic discourse Heichaltzu, examines the destructive nature of baseless hatred and the ego’s inability to tolerate another person.

One of the great dangers of hatred is that the mind can become its servant.

Instead of asking whether our feelings are justified, we begin manufacturing reasons to justify them.

We select evidence that confirms our resentment.

We magnify the faults of those we dislike.

We dismiss their virtues.

Eventually, our hatred feels like moral righteousness.

The person no longer thinks, “I am jealous.”

They think, “I am fighting evil.”

And that is when hatred becomes especially dangerous.

A person can commit terrible acts while believing themselves to be virtuous.

History has shown how propaganda, conspiracy theories, and demagogues exploit precisely this vulnerability.


3. The Root of the Problem: A Person Who Cannot Love Himself May Struggle to Love Others

Here we arrive at the central insight.

Human beings have a fundamental need to love and be loved.

We want to feel that we matter.

That we are worthy.

That our existence is meaningful.

But what happens when a person feels unwanted, humiliated, rejected, or insignificant?

Sometimes that suffering turns inward, producing sadness and despair.

Sometimes it turns outward, producing resentment and aggression.

And sometimes the person finds an individual, community, or entire people on whom to project their frustration.

Suddenly, the problem is no longer their own unhappiness.

The problem is those people.

This is one reason why scapegoating is so psychologically powerful.

Rather than face our own pain, we are offered an enemy to blame.

Rather than take responsibility for our lives, we are told someone else is responsible for our suffering.

And rather than learn how to love ourselves, we are encouraged to hate someone else.

Hatred can become a counterfeit substitute for self-worth.

This helps explain why even extraordinary intelligence, education, and technological progress do not automatically eliminate prejudice.

A brilliant mind can still be enslaved to a wounded ego.

And a sophisticated society can still fall victim to primitive hatred.

4. The Solution: We Must Teach People How to Love Themselves

Now we come to the most important part.

For thousands of years, Jewish communities have understandably focused on defending themselves against antisemitism.

We need security.

We need strong laws.

We need governments willing to protect their Jewish citizens.

We need to confront incitement, terrorism, and murderous ideologies.

All of these are essential. But protection alone does not cure hatred.

We must also ask:

How can we prevent the hatred from developing in the first place?

If insecurity and jealousy are among the forces that feed hatred, then we must address those forces at their source.

We must teach people how to love themselves — not through arrogance, superiority, or narcissism, but through discovering their inherent worth.

This is where the wisdom of Kabbalah and Chassidus offers an extraordinary gift to humanity.

You Do Not Need to Be Better Than Anyone Else to Be Valuable

The deepest source of human insecurity is often the mistaken belief that our worth depends on comparison.

We think:

I must be richer.

More beautiful.

More intelligent.

More admired.

More successful.

More important.

And because no one can always be first, life becomes an endless competition.

But Chassidus teaches something radically different.

Your worth does not come from being better than another person. Your worth comes from your very existence.

You were created by G-d.

You possess a unique soul.

You have a unique purpose.

There has never been another you, and there will never be another you.

Your existence is not an accident, a competition, or a mistake.

It is a Divine gift.

And once you truly understand this, something extraordinary happens.

Another person’s greatness no longer diminishes your own.

Their success is no longer your failure.

Their beauty is no longer your ugliness.

Their happiness no longer threatens yours.

You can rejoice in another person’s blessings precisely because you recognize your own.

This is the foundation of genuine love.

Not merely tolerating others.

Not merely suppressing hatred.

But discovering such inner security that another person’s goodness becomes a source of joy rather than jealousy.

The Antidote to Jealousy Is Not More Pride — It Is Inner Security

This distinction is critical.

Arrogance says:

“I am special because I am better than you.”

Healthy self-love says:

“I am special because G-d created me with a unique purpose — and so are you.”

Arrogance requires comparison.

Love does not.

Arrogance creates competition.

Love creates connection.

Arrogance fears another person’s greatness.

Love celebrates it.

And therefore, if jealousy can contribute to hatred, the antidote is to cultivate self-worth that does not depend on superiority.

5. Can Love Actually Overcome Hatred?

I would like to share two stories.

The Rabbi and the Klansman

There is an account of a rabbi who repeatedly received hateful messages from a local Ku Klux Klan leader.

His wife offered an unexpected insight:

Perhaps this man was suffering from a profound lack of love.

Instead of responding with hatred, the rabbi reached out to him with genuine concern.

Learning that the man was blind, he asked whether there was anything he could do to help.

At first, the man was bewildered.

Why would someone he hated offer him kindness?

But over time, the rabbi’s extraordinary compassion reportedly transformed their relationship. According to the account, the man ultimately came to live with the rabbi and embraced Judaism.

The lesson is not that kindness always changes an extremist, nor that we should expose ourselves to danger.

The lesson is that sometimes the most powerful way to challenge another person’s hatred is to refuse to confirm their expectation that they are hated in return.

A Personal Experience

I once stood at a tefillin booth in a marketplace.

Several Muslim men approached and began chatting.

One individual, however, seemed particularly interested in provoking and demeaning me.

After recognizing that the conversation was going nowhere, I asked him a simple question:

“Tell me, do you love me or do you hate me?”

He began responding with political grievances.

I interrupted him gently.

“I just want you to know something. I love you.”

He lowered his head and walked away.

Did I change his worldview?

I don’t know.

But in that moment, I refused to participate in the cycle of hostility.

And I believe something meaningful occurred.

For a brief moment, the confrontation was no longer between two opposing identities.

It was between two human beings.

6. A Practical Plan to Fight Antisemitism at Its Roots

Here is my proposal.

We have spent enormous resources fighting the consequences of hatred.

What if we also invested in preventing hatred by teaching people how to develop genuine self-worth and love?

Imagine a worldwide educational campaign, using short, professionally produced videos, teaching simple but transformative ideas:

– You are inherently valuable. Your worth does not depend on your wealth, beauty, intelligence, status, or achievements.
– You do not need to compete for human dignity. Someone else’s greatness does not diminish yours.
– Jealousy is a trap. Comparing yourself constantly to others steals your peace and happiness.
– Your thoughts can be trained. Instead of searching for enemies, you can learn to recognize goodness and opportunity.
– Love is a skill. Through gratitude, humility, kindness, and a sense of Divine purpose, we can cultivate love for ourselves and others.
– Every human being has a unique purpose. We are not rivals in a competition for existence; we are complementary participants in the Divine plan.

These are not merely religious concepts.

They are practical lessons about the human condition, drawn from the extraordinary spiritual wisdom of Torah and Chassidus.

From Kabbalah Love — From Fear to Love to a Worldwide Movement

I have already written a book addressing these principles:

Kabbalah Love — From Fear to Love.

My vision is to transform its teachings into a series of beautifully produced, emotionally engaging, short videos that can reach people of every nationality, religion, and background.

Not lectures attacking antisemites.

Not political arguments.

Not another campaign telling people how terrible hatred is.

Videos teaching people how to become happier, more secure, more loving human beings.

Imagine reaching a teenager who feels rejected.

A young adult consumed by comparison.

A person whose failures have turned into resentment.

Someone gradually being drawn toward extremist ideology because hatred offers a false sense of belonging.

Imagine reaching them before that resentment becomes deeply entrenched.

Imagine showing them that they are valuable, that their lives matter, and that they do not need an enemy in order to have an identity.

Using Modern Technology to Spread an Ancient Wisdom

Through platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and other digital networks, positive educational content can be shared across the world.

Each video would focus on one simple, powerful lesson.

Each would be designed to inspire genuine reflection and practical change.

We could begin with a modest pilot campaign, measuring how many people watch, engage, share the content, and report a change in perspective.

We could then expand the most effective messages into different languages and reach new audiences.

The ambition is not simply to generate views.

It is to change the way people see themselves — and consequently, the way they see others.

Because a person who discovers their own intrinsic worth has less need to diminish someone else’s.

A person who understands their own uniqueness has less reason to resent another’s.

And a person who learns to love has a powerful alternative to hatred.

7. The Ultimate Answer: Replace Hatred With Love

We must never be naive about antisemitism.

Some enemies are committed to violence and must be stopped.

Some ideologies are deeply destructive and must be confronted.

Kindness is not a substitute for security, justice, or self-defense.

But neither is security a substitute for healing the human spirit.

If we focus only on defeating those who hate, we may win necessary battles without ending the underlying cycle.

To build a better world, we must also cultivate something greater than hatred.

And that begins with one transformative understanding:

You are precious because G-d created you.

Another person is precious because G-d created them.

Their existence does not threaten yours.

Their greatness does not diminish yours.

Their blessings need not become your jealousy.

Perhaps the most profound way to combat antisemitism — and ultimately all forms of hatred — is to help people discover a love that begins within themselves and extends outward to all humanity.

My dream is to take this wisdom out of the bookshelves, out of the classrooms, and into the hearts of millions.

To transform fear into love.

Insecurity into confidence.

Jealousy into appreciation.

Division into connection.

And hatred into genuine human brotherhood.

We must protect people from hatred today.

And we must teach people how to love, so that tomorrow’s hatred never takes root.

That is the mission.

That is the opportunity.

And that is the world we can begin building today.

Rabbi Zevi Wineberg
KabbalahWisdom.org

Kabbalah Love — From Fear to Love